V
by Stupid Bloody Tuesday
Summary: After the fall of the Shadow Queen, Vivian believed her time with adventure had come to a subtle end, until the arrival of a mysterious letter wakes her up from Wonderland... and shows her just how far the rabbit hole goes.


_**Schriftstellerin**: I've never written a real fan-fiction before. The thought of doing so had always sounded silly. . . But the idea for "V" has been with me for quite some time now. I originally planned to draw it out, but ended up getting sidetracked by another idea (which tends to happen quite often), so here it is written down after a few years in the waiting room. I'm trying to turn pictures into words, hopefully as seamlessly as I can. But I've digressed. Onward we go._

_All Nintendo characters belong to Nintendo, the quotes to their respected owners, and whatever outside references I make to the ones who created them. _

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**V**

**Degree I**

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_"O Wonder! _

_How many goodly creatures there are here!_

_How beauteous mankind is!_

_O brave new world_

_That has such people in't!"_

_-Miranda, The Tempest (Act 5, Scene 1)_

_-----_

_Although the sun had dipped below the horizon, the sea town of Rogueport was far from asleep. A key trading hub of the Mushroom Kingdom, Rogueport never rested from bringing in and shipping out merchandise. People constantly bustled through the streets, documents or crates of goods in their hands, their eyes always on watch for gangs of robbers-- shadows that seemed to come out of hiding in these late hours. Many wore hoods or kept their heads low to avoid confrontation. The sounds of sailors shouting and waves crashing against the port rang through the air without pause, and the wind loftily carried the smell of salt from the sea. Rogueport was always open for business no matter what the hour._

_However, amidst all the nighttime commotion, a strange occurrence was unfolding. In the center of town, beneath the infamous gallows, the stone began to glow a faint blue color. The light slowly crept across the ground, traveling in opposite directions, growing more luminous as it spread and weaving many intricate patterns and lines along its way, until it finally connected to create a circular web of brilliant prismatic design. Passerby ignored this phenomenon as nothing threatening -- just another weird spectacle of Rogueport -- and many failed to even notice it, being too much in hurry to take the time to glance down at their feet. They also didn't pay any mind to the four figures who had suddenly appeared, seemingly from nowhere at all, from within the circle of light. Not one person bothered to watch as the four dark outlines, moving with the grace and stealth of thieves, silently slipped into the chaos of the streets. And not one pair of eyes turned back to the ring of light, which had been burning brightly only moments before, in time to see it fade back to normal stone without a single trace left behind._

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**V**

**Chapter 1**

**Shop / Letter / Revisit**

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"Vivian, heads up!" The Twilight Shop Manager called down from the top of a ladder, grabbing a Jammin' Jelly from a high shelf and tossing it down to her.

"Got it!" she called back, catching the jar with both hands. She turned and handed it to a patiently waiting toad behind her, who gave her twenty coins in exchange.

"Thank-you, sir," she said, placing the coins inside the register and marking down _Jammin' Jelly- 1_ on a notepad.

As the customer opened the door to leave, he was met by a thick crowd of tourists coming in, chattering excitedly amongst themselves and demanding to be serviced. They pushed past one another to get a good look around at the items for sale, making the small store uncomfortably crowded.

Vivian sighed to herself. It had been like this for months: large groups of outsiders coming and going, day after day, week after week. Once word got out that Twilight Town had held one of the Crystal Stars, and been visited by Mario himself, people started pouring in from all over in large waves, trying to find out all they could about the now-famous town and the "secret past" it possessed. Most of them found the environment cute and amusing, as if it had been planned out by some design team. They pointed and giggled at the way the moon hung perpetually in the same place, explored the woods and harassed the residents with annoying questions; more importantly, they flooded Twilight Town's shop, where Vivian had taken up work, searching for odd items native to the area. Many of them cast curious glances at Vivian, wondering if she was part of the theme. The whole thing was really quite bothersome, but more customers meant more profit, so the shop's crew did all they could to put up with it.

"Excuse me!" Someone behind Vivian shouted, "I've been waiting ten minutes here!"

"I'm coming," Vivian replied, making her way toward where the call had come from.

"Ma'am, I would like to check this fire flower," a toad tapped her on the shoulder as she passed by, holding up the item for her to see.

"Yes, I'll be with you in a moment," She said hurriedly to him, trying to squeeze through the crowd but finding herself trapped, the people all around her growing restless with asking for her assistance.

"I need ten mushrooms over here!"

"I think this thunderbolt is defective!"

"Ms. Witch, does this shop carry POW blocks?"

"I'm not a--" Vivian turned to retaliate, but it was hopeless; she couldn't make any sense out of the mass chaos pressing in on her. Could these people get any more impatient? She pulled the rim of her hat down further over her face, trying to separate herself from the noise, feeling her frustration growing.

"Will someone _please_ help me over here?"

"I'm running late! I need to claim my merchandise!"

"_Ugh!_" Vivian's patience snapped. Before she knew what she was doing, she pulled herself into the shadows in retreat, something Beldam had warned her many times over not to do in front of outsiders. Finally in peace, she pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to regain her composure. A few moments of silence allowed Vivian to think straight again, and she realized guiltily what she had done. She knew going into the shadows was a stupid thing to do in front of a crowd, for it would surely attract even more attention to her, which was the last thing she wanted.

"What else was I supposed to do?" She grumbled to no one.

She looked around, finding comfort in the darkness surrounding her. She always liked spending time in the shadows; it was always there for her when she needed it, and, besides her sisters, it was all hers. Her element. Unlike the light world, Vivian was not anchored to the ground here; she could move freely any way she liked through two planes without any kind of gravity. The shadows were not liquid, nor solid, nor gas; there was no hot or cold, and absolutely no light penetrated through the surface. This was true darkness. Earthly laws simply ceased to exist here.

Vivian glanced upward, to where the shadows ended and the light world began. To someone submerged in the shadow world, the barrier between Earth and shadow resembled the view of looking up at the sky from underwater: she could see vague figures in the shop rippling across the shadows' surface, sightly distorted by an invisible current. Although the horizon was lighted from this angle of view, as soon as one tilted their vision to any direction other than up, the light vanished and the world became pitched in darkness once again. It is difficult to explain.

Vivian drifted over to the entrance of the shop, watching people come and go through the doorway. Some carried new or checked out items in their arms, others were mumbling to themselves angrily about the lack of customer service.

With a jolt, Vivian realized every minute she spent down in the shadows was a minute of her abandoning her duty in the shop. She backtracked through the shadows quickly, searching for an empty corner to reappear in. She finally popped up behind the counter, keeping crouched low to avoid frightening anyone, then stood up straight and flipped her hair back over her shoulders, acting as if she had been there the entire time.

To her relief, the manager's wife had come out from the storeroom and was dealing with the remaining customers quite well, smiling and joking to keep them entertained as they waited. One by one she filled their orders and sent them off, until the shop was empty once again. Then she let out a long, tired whistle before collapsing against the wall, unfastening her headband and letting it drop to the floor. She cast an exhausted look at Vivian.

"They just don't stop coming, do they?" She sighed, closing her eyes. "Where did you go, anyway?"

"Ah! Um," Vivian began, trying to think of a decent cover for her disappearance, "A customer wanted me to show him to the mayor's house," she finished, feeling slightly ashamed about lying to her boss.

"Oh, okay," the owner's wife replied, not giving the excuse a second thought. She opened her eyes to glance up at a square clock mounted above the door. Because the sun never changed position, clocks were the only true way to tell time in Twilight Town.

"It's a quarter-hour past closing!" She gasped. "Time flies when you're having fun." She rolled her eyes sarcastically, then turned her gaze at Vivian. "What am I doing, keeping you here? You should get home. Ah, but don't forget your pay." She opened the register and took out eight coins.

"You asked me to pay you in coins, right?" She asked, holding the money out to Vivian.

"Erm, yes," Vivian said sheepishly, taking the coins. Grodus had obviously stopped paying Beldam after the incident in the Palace of Shadow, so the Sirens were always short on money. Beldam had dismissed savings accounts as rubbish, but instead preferred to horde their funds in a box inside their home. Vivian constantly worried about someone breaking in to steal, but Marilyn was always at home, making sure the occasional "stray tourist" found their way back into town.

"Well," the manager's wife said cheerfully, "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Is there anything you would like from the shop before you go? Today was a long day... think of it as a token of my appreciation."

"No," Vivian politely refused, "I'm fine."

"If you say so," Her boss replied.

Vivian smiled and turned to leave, keeping the coins wrapped safely in her left fist. As she opened the front door, a bell tied to the doorway chimed softly, announcing her exit. She scanned the outside for any remaining tourists. To her dismay, two groups of toads were still wandering aimlessly around town. She would have to travel by shadow to avoid being questioned. She gently shut the shop door, tucked the coins under her hat, and faded into the ground.

Flying through the shadows, Vivian watched Twilight Town rush over her, a blur of dull orange and grey. Even lacking details, the town was still quite dreary in appearance: the buildings all looked the same, and it would be impossible to tell where the land ended and the sky began if not for the dark outline of Twilight Forest, its branches clawing hopelessly at the sun like arms of the dead. The Twilight had reduced everything to bland shades of the same few colors, coated in a considerable amount of gloom. Just looking at it was enough to make anyone feel dismal. All the residents of Twilight Town, however, seemed to enjoy their monotonous surroundings-- all, that is, except for Vivian. Being a Shadow Siren and a Creature of Darkness, Vivian knew she was _supposed_ to find pleasure in the dark settings around her, but instead found herself merely tolerating it.

_Because you have seen more than this,_ the thought came to her almost instantly. _You have traveled to better places and have experienced more than what this life has to offer._

Vivian shook her head in denial, but at the same time found her thoughts wandering back to her past adventure. With a pang of nostalgia she remembered the friends she had made during the journey; they were always so kind and caring -- celebrating their victories together, comforting each other in times of need. Where were they now? What were they doing? A sudden thought struck Vivian. What if they were together again? What if they visited each other often? Would they think she was rude for never showing up? A feeling of shame overtook her. She hated being so disconnected, so far away...

No, they wouldn't think that. Not her friends. They had always treated her warmly, she assured herself, they wouldn't suddenly turn cold.

Yet still there was a deep urge to see them again, a longing she felt every day. She missed the thrill of entering battle beside people she could rely on, powering their way together through the toughest adversities. Vivian felt a sudden surge of excitement from her memories, like an animal being roused awake in her heart. _She wanted adventure again!_

_Don't think that! _She snapped back to reality. _Remember that by joining Mario you also betrayed your sisters. Would you want to do _that_ again? _She shook her head, remembering how awful it felt to turn her back on her family, even if they weren't as generous...

Vivian pulled up out of the shadows in front of her home: a one-room building, small but stable, on the edge of Twilight Town. The people of the town had given it to her to thank her for helping Mario save the world. When she insisted on giving them something in return, they merely laughed and told her it was no big deal. She felt embarrassed for having to take a building away from someone else, but they explained that the structure was merely used for storage, and that there had been plans to tear it down anyway, so she wasn't taking anything important. This made her feel better.

As Vivian approached the front door, something small and square caught the corner of her eye. She looked down to find a letter sitting on the ground in front of her. This was surprising – the Shadow Sirens never got mail. Hardly anyone knew where they lived, or even that they existed. Yet here was an envelope at their doorstep. Vivian picked up the letter. The design was exquisite: purple in color with a border of brilliant gold leafing. She flipped it over to find a wax stamp sealing the back shut, engraved with the initials _CE._ _C and E?_ Who could that stand for? She didn't know anyone with those initials. She turned the letter back to the front. There was no writing. It was addressed to no one.

_Then how did it get here?_

Again, the elegance of the envelope struck Vivian as odd. Someone had obviously put a lot of effort into this letter. It couldn't have come from Peach's Castle: visitors to Twilight Town brought news that the Princess had been kidnapped once more and taken to a distant country; Mario, of course, followed after her. Doopliss wouldn't have sent this kind of thing, it wasn't his style. Could it have come from one of her friends? Vivian's heart leapt, then quickly sank. No, they would have put her name on it, or at least some kind of indication it was from them. Perhaps it came from a person with a wide network, like the Syndicate. _No, no, no._ All answers seemed wrong. Vivian grew tired of guessing. She wanted to open the letter, but knew better. It probably belonged to Beldam. There was no room for accidents.

With the mysterious mail still in her hand, Vivian quietly went inside.

----

Beldam arrived an hour later.

Vivian knew it was her the moment the door swung open and hit the opposing wall with a deafening _crack_. Marilyn, who had been hanging around in a far corner, winced at the noise. Vivian turned to see the eldest Siren standing in the doorway, muttering to herself and cracking her knuckles in the way she always did when she was annoyed.

She'd disappeared for a few days – Vivian, of course, had no idea where; Beldam never disclosed those kinds of things, she would just leave and return randomly. Sometimes she brought back money or items, but most of the time her antics remained a mystery.

"Damn them," Beldam hissed to herself, going over to the only window and the house and peering out of it. "I can't even walk around my own town anymore. They're a cancer, I swear it. Damn them!"

She spat a few more curses through the glass. Vivian knew exactly who she was talking about; no resident of Twilight Town loathed the outsiders more than Beldam did. At first Vivian feared that she would become violent with them, but so far she hadn't frozen or snapped any necks, which was improvement.

Beldam shifted her attention to the rest of the room, and Vivian pretended to shuffle some papers on a table nearby. The motion of her hands shook the three-legged thing, which threatened to collapse at any moment. As she all-too carefully arranged and re-arranged the stack, a familiar purple square caught her eye.

"Ah, Beldam," She said cautiously, picking up the mystery envelope, "A piece of mail came."

"...What?" Beldam replied. "Show me."

She snatched the letter from Vivian's hand and glared at the front. Vivian saw a look of slight confusion cross her face as she realized it wasn't addressed. She flipped it over and studied the back. When her eyes fell onto the wax seal, Vivian heard her inhale sharply.

"Where...did _you_ get this?" She demanded, sounding slightly hoarse.

"It was just sitting on the doorstep," Vivian explained, bemused. "I didn't see anyone deliver --"

Before she could finish, Beldam vanished into the floor from sight...most likely to read whatever was inside the envelope in private. Vivian cast a sideways glance at Marilyn, who merely shrugged.

After what seemed like forever, Beldam reappeared in front of them, looking extremely vexed. The letter was not in her hand; Vivian guessed she had destroyed it. This only made her more curious: What was so confidential about a letter that it had to be wiped out of existence? She felt a wave of excitement ripple through her. This was something important.

Beldam crossed her arms in silent thought for a few moments before finally announcing:

"We're paying a visit to Doopliss."

----

Creepy Steeple looked exactly as it had the last time Vivian was there. Looking up through the shadows, she immediately recognized the crooked iron gateway, which opened up to a dusty path and littered yard. A few crows perched lazily on whatever branches hadn't snapped off the pathetic, dead trees. One of them croaked a half-hearted caw at the Twilight sun, then rustled its feathers and went to sleep.

The three Sirens slipped easily underneath the Steeple's front door, and stayed below the floor to avoid the hoard of boos still sharing a home with Doopliss. Although Vivian was quite sure they wouldn't bother her or her sisters, seeing as though she had defeated them in their Atomic Boo form, it was better to remain out of sight.

Beldam finally pulled up in front of the door to Doopliss' personal quarters, after which Vivian and Marilyn followed. Vivian noticed Doopliss had done some work since her last visit: several new locks has been installed to prevent any unwanted entrances. She noticed Beldam staring at this new security update, trying to decide whether to knock on the door or just demolish it altogether.

To her relief, Beldam raised a fist and pounded heavily against the wood.

"Who's there?" Doopliss shouted from inside, his voice tense with suspicion. "Whaddya want?"

"Open the door, Freak Sheet!" Beldam snapped back impatiently.

"Christ, I'd know that voice anywhere," A mumbled reply came, followed by the sound of shuffling feet and the clicking of the locks coming undone. Vivian heard Doopliss swear a few times as he struggled to unlatch the last few. Beldam rolled her eyes under her hat.

Finally, the door swung open, revealing a duplighost covered in a white sheet. A blue bow-tie was fastened around his stubby neck, and on his head he wore a striped party hat with a small tuft at the point.

Doopliss leaned casually against the doorway, his two black slit eyes darting between each Siren.

"If it isn't Beldam," he said smugly. "And company," he added, nodding slightly at Vivian and Marilyn in acknowledgment. "What are you all up to this time? Off to nick the Crown Jewels?" He grinned at his own joke. Beldam crossed her arms. She did not smile.

Doopliss fidgeted and cleared his throat. "You're here to see your friends."

"You would think so," Beldam replied flatly.

_Friends? _Vivian frowned, puzzled. Since when did Beldam have _friends_? She never talked kindly about anyone, unless they were engaged in some kind of business, and even then she despised them behind their backs. Vivian ran a quick mental scan of everyone she could remember. No one she'd met seemed to fit the bill besides Doopliss, who was standing right here, and Grodus, who was just a head.

The inside of Doopliss' room looked just as pathetic as it did before. An old, beat-up sofa, sunken in the middle, was parked in the center, with a gigantic, rusted bell hovering overhead. The only other significant piece of furniture to be seen was a refrigerator, placed next to the couch, angeled so that it would be immediately available to anyone who happened to be lounging. A few shelves, crooked and broken, had been shoved against the stone walls, buried under heaps of trinkets and garbage. A pitiful shag run lay defeated underneath the entire mess.

"I see nothing's changed," Beldam snorted.

"Like you should talk," Doopliss snapped back indignantly. "With all those damn idiots wandering around, I've had to stay hidden in here all day! So far the clefts and dayzees have managed to drive them away, but who knows how long it'll be until they find this place? ...I want to start ringing the bell again, heh."

He kicked a ball of crumpled paper near his foot, sending it whizzing through the air. It smacked against the refrigerator before settling on the floor, dejected.

Beldam scowled. "If you do that, they'll only get more curious -- and if they get more curious, they'll search harder for you."

"You're such a kill-joy," Doopliss pouted, settling on his sofa. "But I _don't_ want them finding me here. If they knew this was the old hiding spot for the Ruby Star, all hell would break loose." He examined a hole in the sofa's fabric with interest, trying to pinch it together with unseen fingers.

Vivian picked a glass ball off a shelf and weighed it in her hand, admiring it's dusty glow. She could make out a dim reflection of herself on the surface: pink curls surrounding a shadowy face, draped over her dark nadeshiko eyes, all of it concealed under the rim of her red-and-white striped hat. She tried smiling at herself, but only managed a hesitant twitch. Feeling awkward, she hastily set the orb back where she had found it.

The room was rather silent for a few minutes, each occupant mingling about in their own way, until Doopliss suddenly perked up, as if realizing other people were in his house and that they were there for a reason.

"Right," he began abruptly, "I suppose you want me to call them up."

"Oh, no," Beldam said sourly, moving an empty box out of her way. "We'll just wait here for two more centuries."

Doopliss made a face at her, then got up from his seat. He went over to the old bell and placed a covered hand on the rope.

"Keep cool," he said, seeing the looks of protest on each of the Sirens' faces. "No pigs this time, I swear." He took the rope in both hands and pulled down, hard. The bell, which had remained dormant for some time, griped against this sudden rousing, forcing Doopliss to put all his strength and weight into the effort. Only after much jumping and tugging did the Steeple bell finally began to move, it's giant pendulum swinging back and forth heavily.

The sound was incredible. The last time Vivian heard the bell, she had been far away from Creepy Steeple, in Twilight Town. The bell had sounded plenty loud there, so standing right next to it was almost unbearable. The clanging rang out without restraint, bouncing against the stone walls and creating a massive echo, as if announcing the deaths of a thousand people at once. She closed her eyes and covered her ears, trying to shut out the sound, but it was no use; she could feel each toll pounding inside her head like a fist trying to beat its way out. How could Doopliss possibly stand this?

After the bell had sounded seven times, Doopliss stopped and released the rope. Vivian relaxed and opened her eyes. She watched the bell, which was still swaying, though it's rotation gradually grew smaller and the awful ringing had stopped. Finally, it settled back into place and returned to sleep once more.

Vivian turned to Doopliss and Beldam, for surely they were just as bothered by the noise as she, but found that they weren't looking at her, the bell, or each other, for that matter. Both their gazes were fixed intensely on something else behind her. She glanced at Marilyn and saw she was staring at the same thing. Slowly, and with great curiosity, Vivian turned her head, eager to see what was more important than the deafening sound of a colossal bell ringing.

She was in no way prepared for what was standing behind her: a figure whose appearance she had missed while being distracted by the bell...

A Shadow Siren stood before her.

----

_**Schriftstellerin**: Holy Hey-Zeus, that was **long**. I know I got some stuff wrong about Doopliss, but I seriously haven't played TTYD in, like, a **year**, so cut me some slack, ja. :D_


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